Gail Hunter

Vice President, Public Affairs & Event Management

Gail Hunter as is in her fourth season as vice president of public affairs and event management for the Golden State Warriors. In this multifaceted role, Hunter leads the organization’s community engagement efforts in San Francisco with regards to the planning and construction of the proposed privately financed sports and entertainment center in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood, while also serving as the organization’s liaison with the groups that collectively operate Oracle Arena, including the Joint Powers Authority, AEG and Levy Restaurants. Additionally, she leads the Warriors Events and Community Relations departments.

Hunter joined the Warriors in September of 2012 after 13 years at the National Basketball Association, the last ten of which she served as the league’s Senior Vice President, Events and Attractions. In that role she managed the NBA’s and WNBA’s domestic and international grassroots marketing programs, including NBA All-Star, NBA All-Star Jam Session, NBA Jam Van, NBA Summer League and NBA Nation. Hunter’s duties with these events included the conceptualization of overall event themes, designs and elements, while also overseeing production, operations, sponsorship management, execution, public relations, marketing and advertising. Additionally, she served as the NBA All-Star liaison with the host team, city and governmental entities, and community organizations.

Prior to joining the NBA in 1999, Hunter served as the Director of Corporate Marketing for the Seattle Mariners, where she was in charge of corporate sponsorship sales, corporate development, marketing, and ballpark planning for Safeco Field. Before joining the Mariners, she spent seven years (1991-98) as Director of Promotional Events for Major League Baseball, where she developed and managed baseball’s premier All-Star event, All-Star Fan Fest.

Hunter earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 in theatre arts from the Fredonia campus of the State University of New York and earned her law degree from the University of North Carolina in 1986. A member of the Washington State Bar, she practiced with the firm of Schweppe, Krug and Tausend in Seattle before beginning her sports business career in 1989 as the Assistant Director of Championships for the NCAA.

This past September, Hunter was selected by the SportsBusiness Journal as a member of their 2014 class of “Game Changers: Women in Sports Business,” which recognizes women in the industry who have played key roles in their respective fields. An active member of WISE (Women In Sports & Events) who serves as a mentor in the WISE Within mentorship program, she was named a 2012 WISE Women of the Year Award recipient.